Anonymous wrote:I’m OP and I appreciate all the different answers assuming y’all are honest. And I respect the people who honestly disclose the hard work, grind and hustle it took to get there.

However, I just don’t see the numbers adding up. I’ve been a job seeker and I know the job market. I also know the housing market. By definition, only 1% of us can be the top 1%. Where are all the rest of the middle class people like me hiding? In their small outside-the-beltway condos and used Priuses? I just feel like I’m missing something here. The hidden high paying job market.

What you're not seeing is generational wealth. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people in this area who make 400K+ and thus can afford this insanely overpriced SFH in their own right, but there are also many many people who have similar homes but whose salaries don't seem to make sense with that reality. It's because they have family money. It may be huge sums of money that were gifted to support down payments or it may be in the form of a debt free education that means they were able to start saving for these homes/retirement/etc. much earlier. Or they have grandparents who pay for their children's private education, etc. so they don't have those expenses and can afford more in a mortgage.

Some of these people are lying. Not all, but some. I know a decent number of people making above 200k and most of them are too busy at work to fart around on DCUM at 10am on a Monday. The Big Law and consulting partners especially.

OP, I bet you the average income of people on DCUM is around what you make, or even lower. I'm currently part time in my job because my kids are young and I want to be more available to them, and I make 50k working about 15 hours a week. Our HHI is about 190k. The reason I can hang out on DCUM a lot is because being part time means my job doesn't carry as much responsibility, and of course sometimes I'm not working at all, I'm just killing time before picking the kids up from school, or while waiting for them to finish swim class or whatever. I think my situation is very common among DCUM power users.

My DH, who makes 140k and manages a team of 6 and has quite a bit of stress in his job (though thankfully not long hours and he has decent flexility and great benefits) doesn't have time to hang out on DCUM either. If he has downtime, he uses it for DuoLingo.

Anyway, I would have some skepticism about all the people claiming they are dual Big Law while posting on DCUM right now. If they are telling the truth, they are junior associates with poor time management skills and probably won't go the distance anyway! They'll be on here pouting about how they had to give up their 250k salary when they got counseled out in 5th year and now they are "poor".

I make 95k and DH makes mid six figures. He works in tech and I work for a nonprofit. If I wasn’t married to him, I’d be like you OP - feeling decently comfortable but wondering how everyone else affords to live here!

I make $140,000 and DH makes $500,000 (grants management and big law)

My sister makes $500-$700,000 depending on the year and her DH makes $350-$500,000 depending on the year (tech sales - both of them).

Anonymous wrote:Climbing corporate ladders is really tough and takes a lot of time and sacrifice. Also managing people sucks. More money more problems

Not if spouse stays home.

Climbing corporate ladders is really tough and takes a lot of time and sacrifice. Also managing people sucks. More money more problems

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m OP and I appreciate all the different answers assuming y’all are honest. And I respect the people who honestly disclose the hard work, grind and hustle it took to get there.

However, I just don’t see the numbers adding up. I’ve been a job seeker and I know the job market. I also know the housing market. By definition, only 1% of us can be the top 1%. Where are all the rest of the middle class people like me hiding? In their small outside-the-beltway condos and used Priuses? I just feel like I’m missing something here. The hidden high paying job market.

Where did you go to school OP? Do you have a graduate degree? Shay do your friends do for work? What kind of people do you date? There's a lot of neyworking involved with jobs.

Yes, I have a graduate degree. My friends and dates are other middle class people with similar salaries.
Interestingly, the people I went to grad school with have largely left DC. Those that I know for sure make a lot of money live in NY and work on Wall Street. I do not envy them, they sound miserable tbh.

Anonymous wrote:I’m OP and I appreciate all the different answers assuming y’all are honest. And I respect the people who honestly disclose the hard work, grind and hustle it took to get there.

However, I just don’t see the numbers adding up. I’ve been a job seeker and I know the job market. I also know the housing market. By definition, only 1% of us can be the top 1%. Where are all the rest of the middle class people like me hiding? In their small outside-the-beltway condos and used Priuses? I just feel like I’m missing something here. The hidden high paying job market.

Where did you go to school OP? Do you have a graduate degree? Shay do your friends do for work? What kind of people do you date? There's a lot of neyworking involved with jobs.

I’m OP and I appreciate all the different answers assuming y’all are honest. And I respect the people who honestly disclose the hard work, grind and hustle it took to get there.

However, I just don’t see the numbers adding up. I’ve been a job seeker and I know the job market. I also know the housing market. By definition, only 1% of us can be the top 1%. Where are all the rest of the middle class people like me hiding? In their small outside-the-beltway condos and used Priuses? I just feel like I’m missing something here. The hidden high paying job market.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t hit your mark as an analyst at a big bank — I make $160K.

But my husband makes $1.1M. He runs lifecycle marketing/sales for a division of a major edtech company. His comp is about a 50/50 split between salary and stock.

EdTech is such a racket, bilking public school systems.

His company has nothing to do with K-12.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me: Tech
DH: Sales

Can you elaborate? I (OP) also work in tech. Most respectable mid-range tech and sales jobs pay around what I make. Are you guys in upper level management or something?

My DH has a guaranteed paycheck of just under 90k. The rest is all variable. That isn't uncommon.

I have a niche skillset that is useful to (certain) fast-growth tech companies.

Are you a programmer or some other skill?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Double biglaw. But remember I am happier to disclose my income on this board than other stats. Like, say, how many hours of screen time a day my kids have. When it’s a “good” number for you, you post it willingly. When it isn’t, you skip the thread.

Exactly this. Much happier to talk about my salary than my weight, for example. People like to bragg, even anonymously. All the people earning $50k don’t post about it here.

Sure they do. But they say they make 500k. People like to brag comma but they also like to lie!

Anonymous wrote:I don’t hit your mark as an analyst at a big bank — I make $160K.

But my husband makes $1.1M. He runs lifecycle marketing/sales for a division of a major edtech company. His comp is about a 50/50 split between salary and stock.

EdTech is such a racket, bilking public school systems.

My husband is in tech. I am in health insurance and make roughly $200k ($180k base and 10-15% bonus). He is 38, I am 35.

Anonymous wrote:Double biglaw. But remember I am happier to disclose my income on this board than other stats. Like, say, how many hours of screen time a day my kids have. When it’s a “good” number for you, you post it willingly. When it isn’t, you skip the thread.

Exactly this. Much happier to talk about my salary than my weight, for example. People like to bragg, even anonymously. All the people earning $50k don’t post about it here.